Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Fazlur Rehman Sunday said former premier and PTI Chairman Imran Khan was marching towards Islamabad “for no reason.” Addressing a press conference in Peshawar, Fazl said no one could break the record of the long march set by the JUI-F during Imran Khan’s tenure. “They are coming to Islamabad for no reason. A long march does not even hold the importance of two paisa,” Fazl said, adding that people would be “mad” to respond to the PTI chairman’s call for the long march. Talking about the economic challenges the country was facing, the PDM chief claimed that Pakistan was not heading towards bankruptcy but was already bankrupt because of the policies of the previous, PTI-led government, says a news report. “Problems that mounted over the last four years are being asked to be fixed within four days,” said Fazl, adding that the “biggest challenge” before the new government was figuring out how to uplift the economy. “We need to make such a situation that China gets on board,” Fazl opined, adding that Khan’s economic experts had themselves warned that the rupee-dollar difference would cross the 200 mark.
He also said that this was the impact of Khan’s policies. “In difficult times, institutions and politicians need to be on the same page to solve the issues.” The PDM chief also spoke about the issues being faced by the tribal people in the merged districts (erstwhile FATA) and claimed that the “125-year-old” history of the region was being changed. “They want to change the importance of FATA,” adding that the region was promised 100 billion after the merger but is yet to receive even half of the sum. Recalling the law formulated to change the status of FATA, the JUI-F chief said that he had recommended to the then PML-N government that they should hold a referendum on the matter but his suggestion was rejected. He also stated that when he was raising objections to the merger as he was told that his party does not represent the tribal areas. “Where work has happened is not even 1% of the tribal areas. Mosques and roads were built in certain areas,” said Fazl and also asked why “greener pastures” were promised to the people of erstwhile FATA when the promises could not be fulfilled. The PDM chief told the tribal people that he fought for them during Nawaz Sharif’s government and will continue to do so now as well.
